cddstamps on stamps

my thoughts on stamps, stamp collecting, philately in general and maybe a few other topics !

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Hello again, finding time to write but having writers block these days. Could be because I am focusing my attention on listing more stamps in my Bidstart Store. See previous writings for details. Am trying to get 4000 listings but people keep buying :-) hahaha that is the good news. Anyway, I sold this Miniature Sheet (MS) today but since I have another I will list it tonight.

I am trying to list 2 or 3 copies of each stamp, especially Australia and GB where I have the largest stock, so you have a choice of what to buy, some people like nice used postal frankings to chose from. Easy way to fill the gaps in your collection. Most people cannot walk into a shop these days and look through dealer albums to fill the gaps in their collection. You can do that from home now with my Store ( and others no doubt) but I carefully select the quality (mostly VFU - Very Fine Used) and try to make sure there is a very accurate and meaningful description for you.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Hello, well yes it has been a while since I last wrote.. just where does the time go I ask myself. Like you I am busy doing things, like cutting grass - it rains and then the sun shines, then it rains again and the sun shines again so the grass grows even more.. seems I have to cut the grass every week. And I have a few acres to cut so it takes some time. In between I look at, sort, and list my stamps for my listings on Bidstart. As you will know from reading my past writings this is my new "hobby" well I have always sold - small time - but am trying to do more and yes to one reader, I really like Bidstart. I find it easy to use and I hope it becomes more popular now that Stanley Gibbons owns it. As I have written before - sorry for repeating myself but maybe you are a new reader - all you have to do when you have open my Store - http://www.bidstart.com/stores/michaelatcddstampsis type the SG number into the "Search Store For" field and see if I have that stamp listed. I have just over 3500 stamps listed now, mostly Australia, GB, Canada, Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, USA, Rhodesia, PNG but many more.. If you are looking for imperf stamps just type imperf, or if you are looking for self adhesive, just type adhesive.. you will see all ( I think) stamps listed in these categories. Bidstart is, in my view, a very good siteSo part apart from gardening - yes I am still looking for my next consulting gig, or job :-) however you look at it, - I am doing philatelic related stuff. and there is lots to do believe me. :-)Since I have not written for a while, that means I have not had a competition either. so how about this to get you thinking ............ as a prize I will send the MS shown above. Was going to list it in Bidstart but thought someone out there might enjoy the competition and the prize. All expenses paid by me. Just email me the answer to cddstamps@gmail.com with your mailing address please. will randomly select a winner on Sunday 28th April.

Competition Question:what do Australia and Canada have in common with these Games? Could be a tricky question :-) so think about it :-) And if you collect and have some gaps in your collection and only want to buy the stamp(s) to fill that / those gap(s) I hope you have time to visit my Store. Postage and packing is basically at cost and with recent Australia Post overseas prices increases I have not passed that on. Have a look if nothing else, you will see I mostly list VFU, 95% of my material is VFU, the rest I give away or bin!! Best wishes, and sorry not written for a while.............. Michael www.cddstamps.com

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Hello, for those of you who collect Australia I thought I would let you know I just loaded 219 more stamps to my Bidstart Store. Mostly early issues.. 1966 -1975 and with excellent selection of the many Booklet issues, with all the positions in the booklets including labels. Hope you enjoy looking. And remember if you have a gap in your collection just type the SG number (eg 1234 no SG required) in the "Search Store For" box and press enter and you will see what I have listed...... for any country that has a stamp with that SG number my store is at http://www.bidstart.com/stores/michaelatcddstamps enjoy.. oh and I have not increased my overseas postage rates even though our wonderful (!!) Australia Post have increased their rates yet again. :-)

Thursday, April 04, 2013

I hope you like these, whatever I may think of Australia Post - and and apart from their very customer focused Philatelic department I am not that impressed - I do like these stamps, and other recent issues. Too many for the collector in my humble view but they gotta make a buck haven't they.

Now for those of you paying attention I have my Bidstart store humming away these days, yet sadly these new stamps also mean a Postage increase. I have now got over 2500 items listed so you will get an even better deal I think as I will not increase my postage and handling fees. I did foresee this but to fully cover the increase all you have do to help me is buy just one more stamp :-) I will in essence be giving it away for free since the cost of it will cover my additional fees. :-)

Have a look at http://www.bidstart.com/stores/michaelatcddstampsand just type the SG number of the stamp you are looking for to fill a gap in your collection. It may be you are looking for Great Britain SG 952, or say Australia SG 952. If you are coincidentally looking for both, wow, both will be displayed when you type 952 into the search field.

And, if you really like these stamps.. I will be using one or more on all overseas mailings. And I will get the letter hand franked so you should not have to worry about the stamp being damaged in the franking process - that is me being politically correct for once !!! What a nice way to get a VFU copy.

Monday, April 01, 2013

Hello, how was your Easter weekend? Good I hope. I am back in Sydney and finally have time for
stamps. Mostly I spend my time packing orders from my Bidstart Store and the
requests I accumulated for free stamps to Children while I have been away. Anyway, thanks to all of my customers, and my apology
for slow mailing. The past two weeks I was overseas as you may know, and so I had
to catch up on my return.

I discovered a search feature I thought I would tell you
about. If you visit my Store at

and type the SG number ( just the number, for example, 2597 is all that is needed - you do not have to type SG ) into the “Search
Store For” field and press enter you will see if I have that stamp listed in
the Store. I now have nearly 2500
items for sale so rather than scroll though that lot why not just look up the
stamp you are looking for to fill a gap in your collection.

It works for any country, as long as you know
the SG number. I did it myself and by
random SG number I found I had priced a stamp wrongly – a typo
- (too high). I price by exchange rate
on the day so you may get a better bargain than you thought if there are two or
more of the same stamp listed as I do not go back and adjust prices. My prices are 10% of catalogue and up, depending
on the stamp and mostly (95% of
listings) I only list stamps which are VFU.
There are some Mint Hinged and Mint Unhinged for earlier GB. I throw away damaged stamps, or stamps with
stupidly heavy postmarks or really bad creases.

Hope you have time to look. A really easy way to fill some
gaps in your collection if you collect GB, Australia, USA, Canada, Fiji,
Rhodesia, Norfolk Island, PNG and many more.

Enjoy your stamps…………..
Best wishes………... Michael

Oh, and the picture above, …………
item number 33866400, or type
Glass in the search field. This is the magnifying glass I use.